004 ☄ VIDEO

[promotional]

I—had everything. Right at my fingertips—

[Rhys' hands are being held up roundabouts the center of his chest, palms to the heavens, fingers curled halfway in. He clutches at air, unable to hold onto what he really wants, because now it's at least light years away. Again. That chair. That view. All of it, lost. And he's back in this place he once saw as a source of solace, but it's more like a fucking hellhole that should be obliterated off the face of the universe.

He's a little upset. The fear is back. The pain in his head from when he knocked it at the Swear-In 'last month.' Who understands time, anyway?]

And it's gone. Whoosh. All of it. Every last drop of success—all of it.

[Never has a man been more distraught. He sucks in a deep breath, smoothes one hand over the back of his head, and gives his comm a deadly sullen look.]

I'm back.

[The weakest, least excited fingergun pointing at you, kid. Bang bang.

A heavy sigh.]

Yaaaaay.

[So. Very dry.]

Comments

video

[crotchstallion]

The fall's the hardest part, kiddo.

video

[promotional]

[A lengthy pause.]

You...

[Not him. Other him.]

I feel like I should thank you, but you would have no idea why.

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[glitterateur]

Yaaaay!

[So very, very excited. Rhys!!]

video

[promotional]

Mabel... you're here. That's one good thing.

[He doesn't seem ecstatic, tho.]

voice;

[slightlyoffchilt]

Is failure a pattern of yours?

video;

[promotional]

Lately or overall?

video;

[oldstandard]

...Am I having deja vu?

[He must be getting older than he thought, he thought he had already suffered through this exact conversation.]

video;

[promotional]

I don't really have it in me to help you with a senior moment, Stan.

permatext; comm tag is "Tadashi"

[tadeadshi]

Sorry to hear.

But glad you're back, Rhys.

text;

[promotional]

Tadashi! My man. How was the workload without me?

video

[dullsilence]

[ Shrug emojis at him. Sorry about that, Rhys. ]

You seem troubled. [ Zer0 is very perceptive! Naw, they're just fucking around. ]

video

[promotional]

[That isn't very nice, honeybunny.]

You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but-- okay. The future? It's so bright it'll burn your eyes out. Do you have eyes?

[ Video ]

[crapbearer]

Hey, welcome back. I mean, you don't know me, but welcome back anyway.

...You doin' okay there?

[ Video ]

[promotional]

[Back to being the Pied Piper of-- where is he right now? Florida?]

I... I think so.

Video

[bindsthedead]

But it will be there when you return, won't it? When we leave, we return to when and where we were before, as far as I've learned.

Video

[promotional]

Oh, wonderful news. I'll just sit here and wait to have everything I ever wanted.

[He may be whining. Like, there's a chance. No sobbing, though. He didn't start his post to the network until that was over.]

permatext

[deadtective]

Yeah, the unsolicited universe jumping can be a pretty big downer sometimes.

[not that she'd know. Hazel doesn't have a goddamn happy thing to go back to at home.]

At least all your favorite assholes are still hanging around here.

permavideo

[promotional]

I don't know how, I don't know... mostly how. But next time you're coming with me.

Video

[dumbfound]

You could just do it again.

[ Because it's obviously that simple, right? ... No? ]

Whatever you did to be successful the first time you just have to do again so you're successful a second time, right?

[ That is not remotely how that works. ]

Video

[promotional]

As much as I would love for that to be an option, it isn't.

voice

[paintjobs]

Oh. Had you gone somewhere?

[ just kidding, he NOTICED THAT DISAPPEARANCE OFF OF HIS COUCH, it was annoying ]

video

[promotional]

Somewhere where the robots are a whole lot cuter.

video | id reads "karen starr"

[boobwindow]

What's stopping you from doing it again or doing something else?

video

[promotional]

[It's the obvious thing to ask but Rhys doesn't want to go through all the nitty gritty details on how impossible that would be. So:]

Believe me when I say it can't be done. And it's all I want.

video;

[112ounces]

What, like a promotion? Sorry to hear that.

video;

[promotional]

You and me both.

video/

[debauchewy]

Such a defeatist tone. Is there a reason you're bringing it to the network? Or are we meant to comfort you?

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[promotional]

I don't think there's any comforting for this one.

[Was that supposed to be condescending? He didn't get it.]

Thanks, though.

[So forlorn.]

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[bulwank]

Think not of a loss like an end, but like a clean slate or a new path.

video

[promotional]

It was so beautiful...

[Internal weeping.]

But, yeah. Until I go home again, I'll-- just gotta suck it up.

video;

[itistolaugh]

Aw, buddy. I'm glad you're back, even if you aren't!

video;

[promotional]

That helps. Really, Harley. That helps a lot.

[voice]

[outlawrain]

Yeah, but what were you gonna do with everythin'? Be happy? Cause I'm pretty sure shit don't work like that.

[voice]

[promotional]

Have you ever swam in-- for shits and giggles, let's say a tower of money?

[bestever]

[completely ignoring the obvious emotional impact:] Huh. So you went home, and came back?

[promotional]

Yeah. More or less.

video;

[alcheregis]

You know what they say, success and smiles go hand in hand!

[ Except no, no one actually says that. Haen's brightly chipper attitude could almost make it true, however. ]

Not that success or smiles have hands, but it's the spirit of the thing! Except I suppose, neither of those things have spirits either. A smile with a spirit would be a little alarming, when I think about it. Kind of ghostly, really.

Welcome back!

video;

[promotional]

... Thanks?

[Squint. Who is this person? Why are they so happy?]